The determination of 15 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in olive oil samples has been improved in order to obtain a fast methodology with a low limit of detection through the combination of liquid–liquid extraction with acetonitrile and preparative gel permeation chromatography (GPC) prior to the injection of purified extracts into a C18 column. Acetonitrile–water was used as the mobile phase with a gradient from 50 to 95%, w/w, acetonitrile in 30 min. The oven temperature was maintained at 15°C, and fluorometric detection was made at a fixed excitation wavelength of 264 nm and variable, optimal emission wavelength for each analyte ranging from 352 nm for 11-H-benzo(b)fluorene to 500 nm for indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene. Recovery for all the compounds studied varied from 75 to 111%, and limit of detection values from 0.05 ng/g for benzo(k)fluoranthene to 0.48 ng/g for indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene, corresponding to 0.09 ng/g benzo(a)pyrene. Results were compared with those obtained by liquid–liquid extraction followed by a cleanup on silica and a direct GPC treatment of oil samples diluted in dichloromethane, 2 other methodologies that are appropriate for quantifying PAHs in olive oils. However, the proposed method improves the determination limits, reduces the time of analysis, and provides a highly stable baseline for sample chromatograms.

. Extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from cookies: A comparative study of ultrasound and microwave assisted procedures. Food Additives and Contaminants, 2008, 25 (03) proposed is appropriate to quantify PAHs in cookies. Furthermore, the microwave assisted method was faster and used less solvent than the conventional and ultrasound assisted methods. The extraction time has been reduced to 9 min compared to the 8 hours required for Soxhlet extraction and 60 min required for ultrasound assisted treatment, and the solvent consumption has been reduced to 25 ml compared to the 155 ml and 90 ml required using Soxhlet and ultrasound respectively.